Indonesian Prefixes

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Indonesian Prefixes

Prefix is an affix attached to the front of a root word that creates a new word. Indonesian uses several prefixes below :

Ber-

Ber- is used to construct a verb that means “doing something, being something, have something, or having a certain attribute”.

Example :

Berbahaya (dangerous)           = ber+bahaya (danger)

Berasal (originated)                 =ber+asal (origin)

Me-

Usage 1 : to construct a verb from a noun.

Example :

mengebom       (to bomb)        = menge+bom (bomb)

mengelap         (to wipe)          = menge+lap (wipe)

Usage 2: to indicate that the subject of a statement is the one doing the action of the verb

Example :

Saya melihat anjingmu            = I see your dog

meihat = me+lihat

The word “Lihat” is already a verb, meaning “to see”. Here we add the prefix “me” to indicate that “I” am the one who see the dog.

Other examples:

Membuat (to make)     = mem+buat

Melihat (to see)           = me+lihat

Menuai (to harvest)     = men+tuai (the T is dropped)

Menabur (to sow)        = men+tabur (the T is dropped)

Menyamar (to disguise/undercover) = meny+samar (the S is dropped)

Important!

Memarkir (to park)      = mem+parkir

Memasang (to put)      = mem+pasang

Memaksa (to force)     = mem+paksa

As you see, the initial P is dropped. But in these examples, the initial P is not dropped.

Memperkosa (to rape) = mem+perkosa

Memperbaiki (to fix)   = mem+perbaiki

Even I don’t know the exact rule for this J but for most cases, the P is dropped. This is also occurred with other letter than P.

Me- has six variation depend on the first letter of the root word which they are attached.

Me-      is used when the following word is started with L, M, N, R, W, Y

Meng- is used when the following word is started with G, H, K or vowels.

Mem-   is used when the following word is started with B F P

Men-    is used when the following word is started with C, D, Z, and T

Meny- is used when the following word is started with S

Menge- is used when the following word is consisted from one syllable only

Di-

This prefix is related to me- prefix above. While the me- indicates that the subject is the actor who doing an action , the di- indicates that the subject is the object of an action. A sentence with me+verb is called active sentence, and di+verb is called passive sentence.

Example:

Bola dilempar (oleh) Susanti   = The ball is being thrown by Susanti.

Susanti melempar bola            = Susanti throws the ball.

“oleh” is a direct translation of “by”, and may optionally dropped in informal case.

Important!

There is also a word “di” to indicate place (in, at, to, and on). This is a word, not an affix, and hence should not be attached to other word. But many Indonesians incorrectly attach it to other word.

Example:

Kucing sedang tidur di atas meja (the cat is sleeping on the table)

is often incorrectly written as

Kucing sedang tidur diatas meja

In most cases, the di- prefix is followed by a verb, while the word  “di” is followed by an adverb.

Ter-

Usage 1 : as a superlative, same as English word “the most, or suffix -est”. This ter- is always attached to an adjective.

Example:

Terbaik (best)              = ter+baik(good)

Terkecil (smallest)       = ter+kecil (small)

Terbesar (biggest)        = ter+besar (big)

Tercantik (most beautiful)       = ter+cantik(beautiful)

Usage 2 : as passive form, similar to di- prefix, but used when the actor is not important. In most cases, it is same as the English –ed suffix (or past tense form).

Example :

Terbatas (limited)        = ter+batas (limit)

Terbentuk (formed)     = ter+bentuk (form)

Bumi terbentuk tiga milyar tahun yang lalu = The earth is formed three billions years ago.

Se-

Se- prefix is used as substitution for the word “satu” (one).

Example:

Seribu              = satu ribu (one thousand)

Sekelas            = satu kelas (one class)

Seragam          = satu ragam (one variety)

Pe-

Pe- prefix is similar to “-er” suffix in English.

Usage 1 : if attached to a verb, this prefix is used to form a noun that indicates a person or thing that do the verb.

Example :

Pemakan (eater)          = pe+makan(eat)

Pembuat (maker)         = pem+buat (make)

Pencetak (printer)        = pen+cetak (print)

Usage 2 : if attached to an adjective, this prefix is used to form a noun that has the quality or attribute inherent in the adjective.

Example :

Pemanas (heater)         = pem+panas (heat)

Pendingin (cooler)       = pen+dingin (cool)

Prefixes and their variations have a very important role in Indonesian. Once you're done with the Bahasa Indonesia Prefixes, you might want to check the rest of our Indonesian lessons here: Learn Indonesian. Don't forget to bookmark this page.

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